[Nancy Walton]

Hi Carmen,

There are thousands of supposed "therapies" for autism. For me, a therapy is something that improves a condition. Nothing can be claimed to be a therapy, unless there is peer reviewed, control group – treatment group research that shows it's effectiveness in improving a condition. Just because there is an article on a "therapy" does not mean that the therapy is effective. Also, be wary of personal stories or testimonials.

I'm sure that swimming with dolphins is fun. So is skiing, art, swimming, and horse back riding. It is important for autistics to have fun, as it is important for everyone to have fun. But there is a difference between having fun and recieving therapy to alleviate a condition (although my son's therapist mix the two quite a bit).

At the moment, the only therapy that improves IQ, speech, social interactions and behavior, for autisitc children is ABA. I can send you articles on research that support ABA. If anyone on this chat board comes across peer reviewed articles on research done with some other therapy, please bring it to our attention.

Nancy Walton
wiklo@shaw.ca

[Nancy Walton]

I have to echo Sharon's recommendation. We always have Casey's birthday parties at gymnastics and they are so easy!! In our case, Casey has been in a lot of gymnastic classes, so when his friends come to a party there, they are always impressed with how much he can do in the gymnastics.

But as well, the leaders take care of the kids and also control the gift opening. It is a must for autism parents to consider.

nancy

[Nancy Walton]

Attention therapists wanting to work in the Surrey School District:

The Surrey College ABA support worker course will not begin until January 2007. This does not change the fact that Surrey School district will hire eligible therapists before they have taken the course. If you have over 1000 hours of experience and you would like to work in the school system, you should take advantage of this opportunity.

Please contact me if you have any questions about working in the Surrey School district.

Below is the ad that has been put out by the district. Ignore the application deadline.

Nancy Walton
wiklo@shaw.ca

APPLIED BEHAVIOURAL ANALYSIS ( ABA ) SUPPORT WORKER

The ABA Support Worker provides assistance to students with autism spectrum disorders. The ABA Support Worker assists teachers in the delivery of special education programs and services.

The District seeks ABA Support Workers who have completed 1000 hours of training (250 hours must be focused on discrete trial) in an intensive applied behavioural analysis home program. Such training must be supervised and assessed by a qualified ABA Behavioural Consultant.

Successful ABA Support Workers must complete the Surrey College ABA Support Worker program prior to the 2007-2008 school year.

Qualified and interested applicants should submit their resumes, supporting documents (an ABA competencies based assessment completed by a qualified Consultant) and references, clearly marked with the competition number, no later than Monday, August 14, 2006. (Date extended by 10 days)

Competition #SEA 327:07

Human Resources Department

School District No. 36 (Surrey)

14225 – 56th Avenue, Surrey, B.C. V3X 3A3

Fax: 604-596-9811

Note: Successful applicants will be required to consent to a Criminal Record Search prior to employment. Only those persons selected for interviews will be contacted. To all others, thank you for your interest.

[Nancy Walton]

Attention therapists wanting to work in the Surrey School District:

The Surrey College ABA support worker course will not begin until January 2007. This does not change the fact that Surrey School district will hire eligible therapists before they have taken the course. If you have over 1000 hours of experience and you would like to work in the school system, you should take advantage of this opportunity.

Please contact me if you have any questions about working in the Surrey School district.

Below is the ad that has been put out by the district. Ignore the application deadline.

Nancy Walton
wiklo@shaw.ca

APPLIED BEHAVIOURAL ANALYSIS ( ABA ) SUPPORT WORKER

The ABA Support Worker provides assistance to students with autism spectrum disorders. The ABA Support Worker assists teachers in the delivery of special education programs and services.

The District seeks ABA Support Workers who have completed 1000 hours of training (250 hours must be focused on discrete trial) in an intensive applied behavioural analysis home program. Such training must be supervised and assessed by a qualified ABA Behavioural Consultant.

Successful ABA Support Workers must complete the Surrey College ABA Support Worker program prior to the 2007-2008 school year.

Qualified and interested applicants should submit their resumes, supporting documents (an ABA competencies based assessment completed by a qualified Consultant) and references, clearly marked with the competition number, no later than Monday, August 14, 2006. (Date extended by 10 days)

Competition #SEA 327:07

Human Resources Department

School District No. 36 (Surrey)

14225 – 56th Avenue, Surrey, B.C. V3X 3A3

Fax: 604-596-9811

Note: Successful applicants will be required to consent to a Criminal Record Search prior to employment. Only those persons selected for interviews will be contacted. To all others, thank you for your interest.

[Nancy Walton]

ATTENTION ALL THERAPISTS AND ALL SURREY PARENTS

There are still openings in the Surrey School District for ABA trained therapists. If you (or your therapist) missed the Aug 14th deadline, it is NOT too late to apply. There will be another ad placed in the newspaper, but you can also see the postings on the Surrey School District web site. Forms for applying are below. Please read the following:

To ease difficulties in getting forms filled out, qualified consultants may sign off therapists hours of experience under previous consultants if they feel confident that the consultant was also qualified. This way, therapists do not have to track down consultants who no longer work in BC, or no longer work for the family.

"Qualified" consultants have either been trained by someone with a Masters or Doctorate degree in ABA specializing in autism, or have been trained at a Lovaas replication site. Consultants must register and send documentation, one time, to the Surrey school district and they will keep you on file. The district will not hire people unless trained by registered qualified consultants. See below for the registration form.

If you are a therapist and your families or consultant are away on vacation, send in the application anyway, explaning what documentation will come as soon as everyone arrives back home. You will not be hired until documentation is completed, but you can at least get started and get the interview done etc.

Here are sites where you can get the forms. If your consultant is out of town, send them this e-mail, they can print up the "experience" form, fill it out and mail it back.

https://featbc.org/downloads/experience.doc
https://featbc.org/downloads/hours.doc
https://featbc.org/downloads/registration.doc

If you have any questions, feel free to e-mail me at wiklo@shaw.ca.

Nancy Walton

[Nancy Walton]

South Fraser ASBC meeting Thursday Aug 17th 7-9pm

This is a meeting for new parents to discuss how to begin and maintain an ABA program. Please come with all your questions and concerns. More seasoned parents are welcome to share your successes.

Please RSVP to Nancy at wiklo@shaw.ca.

The meeting will be at Semiahmoo House Society,
15306 24th Ave
South Surrey

Refreshments will be provided,
Donations gladly accepted.

Sorry for the late notice.

[Nancy Walton]

ATTENTION Surrey and surrounding area families and therapists!!!!

There is an ad in all the newspapers looking for ABA trained therapists to work in the Surrey school district. The ad is also in the Surrey school District web site.

You must have 1000 hours of experience in ABA under a qualified consultant, in order to apply. All successful applicants must complete the Surrey College ABA support worker course (name of the course, still to be determined) in order to keep their jobs. Unfortunately, the Surrey district did not make the forms for applying available. These forms are now available at the following web sites:

https://featbc.org/downloads/experience.doc
https://featbc.org/downloads/hours.doc
https://featbc.org/downloads/registration.doc

The Surrey School District will register qualified consultants who have handed in the "registration" document. So this document must be filled in by the consultant.

Then, the "Experience" document is for the consultant to describe the applicants experience. Before this can be filled out, parents must fill out a "hours" of work form. Sorry it is so beaurocratic, but in order to ensure that we have well qualified people hired, we need to be clear on our expectations.

(note: at the time of posting, the "hours" form and "registration" form are mixed up, this may be rectified by the time you read this post)

Sharon and Bohdanna have already noticed a few odd glitches with the forms and we will revamp them as we get feedback. If a consultant or parent has difficulty knowing how to fill a section in, do it as you see fit (this is not a test), hand it in to the district, and pass on your feedback to Eleanore at elledubois65@shaw.ca.

This initiative is the result of an ABA parent-Surrey administrator collaborative group. Surrey School district, through the Surrey College will be running a College program consisting of 4 courses. Two of the courses were designed by the Surrey School District and the other two were designed by Sharon Baxter, a well known local ABA consultant. Bohdanna Popowich-Kvam (another well known local ABA consultant) has also been involved in the collaborative group. So, this is a true, ABA focused program for therapist who want to work in the schools.

I want to give a big thanks to Rick Ryan and Rick Fabbro, of the Surrey School district for listening, working with us and for their proactive approach to finding solutions.

Nancy Walton

[Nancy Walton]

ATTENTION SURREY SCHOOL DISTRICT PARENTS
(non-Surrey parents also welcome)

Rick Ryan and Rick Fabbro of the Surrey School District have been working on initiatives to place highly experienced ABA tutors with our children in the schools. They would like to meet with parents to explain the initiatives and to answer any questions.

Since it was important to meet as soon as possible, I thought it best to combine the South Fraser ASBC meeting, featuring Michelle Weis, with the Surrey School initiatives meeting. Rick Ryan and Rick Fabbro will speak and answer questions from 6pm to 7pm. Then Michelle Weis will speak and answer question from 7pm to 9pm. Feel free to come at either 6pm or 7 pm, depending on your interest.

The meeting is Thursday, July 20 at the Semiahmoo House Society, 15306 24th Ave.

Refreshments will be provided and donations gladly accepted for the latter part of the meeting.

Please RSVP with Eleanore at elledubois@shaw.ca

Nancy Walton

[Nancy Walton]

ATTENTION SURREY SCHOOL DISTRICT PARENTS
(non-Surrey parents also welcome)

Rick Ryan and Rick Fabbro of the Surrey School District have been working on initiatives to place highly experienced ABA tutors with our children in the schools. They would like to meet with parents to explain the initiatives and to answer any questions.

Since it was important to meet as soon as possible, I thought it best to combine the South Fraser ASBC meeting, featuring Michelle Weis, with the Surrey School initiatives meeting. Rick Ryan and Rick Fabbro will speak and answer questions from 6pm to 7pm. Then Michelle Weis will speak and answer question from 7pm to 9pm. Feel free to come at either 6pm or 7 pm, depending on your interest.

The meeting is Thursday, July 20 at the Semiahmoo House Society, 15306 24th Ave.

Refreshments will be provided and donations gladly accepted for the latter part of the meeting.

Please RSVP with Eleanore at elledubois@shaw.ca

Nancy Walton

[Nancy Walton]

Typo error on my last message at the bottom. The meeting is July 20th (not 30th).

A reminder message will come later.

Nancy Walton

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